CHINA appears to have developed a superweapon as pictures emerge of the world’s first electromagnetic railgun mounted on the side of a ship, which is far more powerful than any such hardware developed in the west, including the US.

Alarming photos published online suggest the Chinese military is testing the Star Wars-style weapon, which uses electromagnetic force to fire projectiles at incredibly high speeds and across huge distances.

Tests of prototypes in the US show the projectiles, fired along charged rails, could hit speeds of Mach 7 - seven times the speed of sound - and have a range of 160km.

Beijing is thought to be very keen on the weapon because it offers the range of a missile but the speed of a cannon.

And new pictures show a ship at the Wuchang shipyard equipped with what appears to be a working railgun.

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It looks as though the Haiyang Shan vessel has had a new turret installed and containers to house the power supply.

The ship-mounted cannon is relatively huge compared to the size of the ship, which is normally armed with a small 37mm point defence gun on the bow.

Chinese navy chiefs often use the Hubei province shipyard to carry out secret military testing and experts fear the railgun could be up and running soon.

They say the weapon appears similar to the US Navy’s own railgun prototype.

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The US had been testing similar technology but has cut back on the project after splurging $500billion.

But the latest pictures appear to show the Chinese have not given up and beaten the Americans to the punch.

Last October, China revealed it was working on electromagnetic military technology as it looked to upgrade the People’s Liberation Army.

A Beijing weaponry researcher said the technology would be the future of naval combat.

He told China Daily: "It will allow electromagnetic railguns to be mounted on ships while current power systems can't handle the vast electricity consumption by the weapon. Ships with railguns will be much mightier than existing ones.

“In addition, the new system will extensively reduce the noise of submarines as they move underwater, improving their fighting capability and survivability."